My advice, if you want to enter tourneys, is to play as many 2ers as possible.

USA map is the most popular, by far. But you have competitive tourneys on other maps also coming up in a couple months.

It's gonna a while before reaching a decent tournament level.
To be "ok", it's better to be regularly above 1500+ ELO to have fun in individual tourneys.
Regular 1600+ is a minimum to have a good chance to perform well in individual tourneys.

We also have team tourneys, one is under way, next is Sept, where your ELO is a bit less important. But still, 98% players will be 1500+.

I have no cluess about chess ELO, but we have a few chess players here who should be able to enlighten you.

Again, play as many games as possible. And better if 2er !
Do not hesitate to ask questions !

Thanks again for the pointers, I'm now working on the 2 player games and have gotten into a few games with 1500+ players. They kicked me around pretty well, but as you mentioned, I've learned a few tricks from the experience.